Can you heat and bend nichol silver?

happycat

happycat

Joined
Jun 21, 1999
Messages
752
I am putting a nichol silver gaurd on my cutting comp bowie and would like to give it an "S" shape. Can I heat it up and forge or bend it in a vise to shape? I've done this with mild steel, but haven't tried it with NS. Any thoughts, advice, warnings?
Pics to follow once I get it done.
Thanks,
Ed
 
Hi Ed,
I have just bent it in the vise without problems. I am assuming it is not work hardened. Otherwise heat to dull orange and plunge into water to anneal it. Then bend it. If bend is really complicated like an S with a tight twist on the ends, then hot bending is good.
Jonathan Loose does a lot with NS and might chime in.
Have you recovered from Washington yet?
Enjoy, Ken
 
IIRC, nickel silver is 78% brass, and can contaminate your forge, just like brass can.
If you decide to do this, maybe it'd be a good idea to use a torch to heat it.:confused: :eek:
 
Nickel silver , also called german silver is an alloy of copper,zinc and nickel. It does NOT contain silver. Handle it just as you would brass . It will harden as you work it ,if too hard just anneal it .
 
Ed,

Glad to see you here. Been wonderin' how you're doing back up there in NY. I'd love to see a pic of your camp bowie. I'm working on bowie now as well. I'll post as well.

Good luck with the nickel silver guard.

Dan
 
Hey guys thanks for the advice. I think I'll try just bending it in the vise and using a torch if I need to.

Ken: Good to hear from you. I am still strugling with a bit of tendonitis in my forarm and elbow. I think it was all the rope cutting. That snap cut I was advocating seems to have come round to bite me on the ass (so to speak). Otherwise good. Toying with the idea of trying to make something out of that damascus for the Bill Moran hammer in, but time is getting tight.

Dan: good to hear from you too. I'll post when I get this finished, but I'll have to figure out how first. Been painting the house the last few weeks, so the bladesmithing has taken the back seat. Soon to finish though, mabye even today if I get off my ass and outside.....

Mete: Thanks for the warning. I don't work with brass, but am curious how it would contaminate my forge if I were to heat it (or NS) in there. What does it do? Also, I noticed you'e from NY state. Where abouts? We could be neighbors.

Well gotta get to the painting thanks for the help.
Ed
 
Happycat, the warning came from Mike not me. Brass and nickel silver start to anneal at about 450F. Holding it above ,not in ,the forge shouldn't be a problem. It will melt at about 1800F.I'm on the Delaware River 100 road miles from you.
 
Originally posted by happycat
Mete: Thanks for the warning. I don't work with brass, but am curious how it would contaminate my forge if I were to heat it (or NS) in there. What does it do? Also, I noticed you'e from NY state. Where abouts? We could be neighbors.

Ed
Click to expand...


You will have problems getting pattern welded steel to weld after that. No help for it either I understand, but to rebuild the forge.
The technical part I will leave for someone more knowledgeable.:eek:
 
I can't tell you why either but I ignored the warnings and had to build a new forge!
 
Mike, Peter, thanks for the warnings. That never would have occured to me. I haven't tried to make damascus at home yet, but its on the list of things to do.

Mete, we might not be as far apart as you think. I live East of Binghamton about 20 miles. What town are you near?
Ed
 
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